Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread

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Swansman

Pro-peace
May 13, 2019
22,320
Sweden
My personal theory is that these three places are quite similar in terms of climate and these conditions are perfect for the virus to stay active for a longer time outside of the human host. All three (northern Italy, northern Iran, Wuhan) at this time of year are dry, cold at night and cool to mild in the day, a classic Mediterranean winter climate. Places that are hot and humid, or cold and wet - or indeed very cold - are not seeing the same level of spread. Its quite obviously not spreading in tropical regions, like Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore that still have a low number of cases despite being there a long time. It also hasn't taken off in Canada, Russia or Scandanavia. In Europe, outside of Italy, it is spreading quickest in Spain and France, and there will be parts of the US that have very similar climates. Thats where I think it will be most difficult to stop

Just my own little hypothesis

We've gone from 94 this Thursday to 203 today in Sweden, would not surprise if it goes to thousands soon enough..
 




beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,015
I agree that panic buying in the UK is insane but Italy presents a picture of how bad this could get and just dismissing it as media hysteria is slightly delusional. We need to get to the bottom of why it is so bad in Italy, Iran and China and then maybe we can rationally assess what the possibilities are and what the remedies should be. Stay calm, stay kind but be prepared for something that could be unprecedented in our lifetime and already is in some parts of the world.

overlooking South Korea. we know SK had a religious cult link, Iran to some minor pilgramage, and earlier reports made a link with a particular Italian mass.
 


The Clamp

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 11, 2016
26,185
West is BEST
So why are multiple governments plus the WHO saying we need to be prepared and why are millions of people in lockdown across the world? We didn't see this with bird flu. So I'll ask my question again, why is this virus so different?

It’s not. Get a grip.
 


Wozza

Custom title
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
24,373
Minteh Wonderland
Very, very low risk of fit & healthy people becoming seriously ill if they do catch it (statistics prove this)

But there's a very high/real risk of fit and healthy people passing it on to vulnerable people - for example, kids via schools to their grandparents.

The incubation period is said to be 5-6 days (mean average) so it's easy to become an unwitting carrier.

And UK hospitals are already rammed. They'll struggle with a large influx of patients who need care and have to be kept in isolation.

There's plenty to be worried about. And plenty of chaos ahead, imo.
 


Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
57,289
Back in Sussex
Massive scaremongering and inflaming of the issue by the media - things like panic buying are self perpetuating (ANOTHER Briton dies.......positive cases JUMP in numbers.....Sainsbury’s SELLS OUT of arsewipe........etc)
Very, very low risk of fit & healthy people becoming seriously ill if they do catch it (statistics prove this)
Very small numbers of of those tested being confirmed positive
Even smaller numbers dying (statistically tiny number). Three in the UK so far, from 30,000 tested ?

Rather than stopping everyone doing everything, a more logical approach would be to advise the vulnerable, and those close to the vulnerable, to take reasonable precautions, and (as now) encourage everyone else to practice good hygiene etc.

I wanted to stop posting to tell people that there is so much more to this than "Most people are probably going to be OK, so stop worrying" but I clearly can't.

In Northern Italy there are reports of hospitals having to choose who is going to have a chance to live and those who are probably going to die due to the number of respirators available. This problem will happen in every hospital in every country if things progress similarly, as seems likely.

In towns in the same region, there are no doctors left to visit those who may have the virus, as all the doctors have become infected themselves and have either been hospitalised or are having to self-isolate.

For all the bollocksy political point-scoring some are already trying to make over the UK's position on this, there won't be many countries, if any at all, that are going to have the vast quantity of excess health capacity - both people and equipment - just sitting around for an eventuality such as this. The spike in demand that this virus is going to create for most countries is something no country has capacity for.

Will I be OK? Probably, yes.

Many won't though.
 




Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
57,289
Back in Sussex
I'd almost guarantee it. The upward curve is sharp now

Outside of China (reminder: they've locked down 60m people) the known cases of this virus are doubling every four days.

A quick lesson in exponential growth for those that have never calculated putting 1p on the first square on a chessboard and doubling it up on each square of the board (try it).

If a country has 500 cases, it only takes 11 double-ups (ie 44 days at current growth rates) before they have over 1 million cases.

Despite "most people just have the sniffles", no country has the health infrastructure to deal with those who do need help. That's why this shit is scary.
 


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,461
Sūþseaxna
Fomites

We've gone from 94 this Thursday to 203 today in Sweden, would not surprise if it goes to thousands soon enough..

The Prime Minister will chair an emergency Cobra meeting later to decide whether to bring in measures to delay the spread of coronavirus in the UK.

On Sunday, the number of confirmed cases in the UK rose to 278, from 209 on Saturday - the biggest rise so far.

The government has previously said such action could include banning of sporting and other events where large numbers of people gather, and encouraging people to work from home rather than use crowded trains and buses.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51796072
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,327
I wanted to stop posting to tell people that there is so much more to this than "Most people are probably going to be OK, so stop worrying" but I clearly can't.

In Northern Italy there are reports of hospitals having to choose who is going to have a chance to live and those who are probably going to die due to the number of respirators available. This problem will happen in every hospital in every country if things progress similarly, as seems likely.

In towns in the same region, there are no doctors left to visit those who may have the virus, as all the doctors have become infected themselves and have either been hospitalised or are having to self-isolate.

For all the bollocksy political point-scoring some are already trying to make over the UK's position on this, there won't be many countries, if any at all, that are going to have the vast quantity of excess health capacity - both people and equipment - just sitting around for an eventuality such as this. The spike in demand that this virus is going to create for most countries is something no country has capacity for.

Will I be OK? Probably, yes.

Many won't though.

Without wishing to score points in any shape or form, bollocksy or otherwise, [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION], what I genuinely don't get is the mixed messages. On the one hand, we're encouraged by the media to believe that northern Italy has become some form of deadly plague pit. On the the other hand, Easyjet are quite happily running half a dozen flights a day - in both directions - between Gatwick and Milan. What gives?
 






Rugrat

Well-known member
Mar 13, 2011
10,224
Seaford
On the the other hand, Easyjet are quite happily running half a dozen flights a day - in both directions - between Gatwick and Milan. What gives?

It's bizarre ... I can't fathom why Northern Italy wasn't 'locked down' 2/3 weeks ago. Didn't need a genius to see what was going to happen and as you say it's not even locked down now
 


BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
18,201
Will be flying to the UK on 7th April, if plane half empty I will ask for an upgrade.

I am flying on the 30th March, I hadn't thought about the upgrade option. I will definitely be asking.

Are you getting to a game?
 




dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
55,549
Burgess Hill
Coronavirus / Covid-19

Italy in ‘lockdown’.....


“The Foreign Office responded to the Italian announcement by advising against all but essential travel to areas affected, including Milan and Venice. However, there were no restrictions on Britons or Italians returning from the country.

The edict led to widespread confusion and signs of international tension, with a government source questioning why people had been banned from moving within Italy but allowed to flee to other countries.

Dozens of flights from locked-down areas arrived in Britain yesterday, with 17 leaving Milan Malpensa airport alone.
On arrival, passengers were not put into quarantine or tested for the virus, leading to fears they could now be spreading the disease in the UK”

......and a view from the Doc that writes in the Telegraph


“The coronavirus is not to be sneezed at. Still, the experts’ recent alarmist predictions that several million (one in five of the working population) could be infected is likely, on past form, to be a tad exaggerated. But by how much?
In the first three weeks of January, when the outbreak in China was at it most virulent, 62 confirmed cases were admitted to seven hospitals in Zhejiang province. They all had a mix of flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, headaches and malaise) while in addition a CAT scan confirmed that the virus had also spread to the lungs to cause pneumonia.
For only one patient, however, was this severe enough to require treatment in intensive care. All survived. This case series, reported in the British Medical Journal, would seem fairly typical of the pattern of the outbreak outside the main centre in Wuhan.

Out of a population of 54 million (similar to that of the UK), there was just one fatality in 1,213 cases

The population of Zhejiang province is 54 million (roughly equivalent to that of the UK) where, as of last week, there had been a grand total of 1,213 cases in the past three months with just one fatality.

There is no reason why the experience in Britain should be much different so, rather than the millions of cases predicted by the experts, a more realistic estimate might be a readily manageable couple of thousand.

To be sure, it is only prudent to take the necessary steps to limit the spread of this rather nasty variant of seasonal flu, albeit with a similar mortality rate. But when in a few weeks the threat has receded, those headline-grabbing initiatives of recruiting thousands of retired nurses and doctors and closing down Parliament will seem unnecessarily overdramatic”
 
Last edited:


Nobby

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2007
2,892
Well its just hit sunny sunny Bournemouth and Poole..

First cases in Dorset.

A member of our local gym has it. The oldies here will strip the shelves tomorrow.

It’s not the oldies stripping the shelves.

It’s the selfish

Think we should shoot people buying more than one pack of toilet rolls?

No different to looting really
 


Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
37,341
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade








Blue3

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2014
5,835
Lancing
The question of what is and what is not an underlying health condition I am not clear what this term covers, what percentage of the UKs population have underlying health conditions
 


beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,015
So someone who broke a quarantine to sit in an aeroplane full of people is amazed at THE GOVERNMENT? Wow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

only the second daftest story on Italian quarantine (thats not a quarantine). someone on radio was complaining there were no checks when they returned from Italy, via a flight from Innsbruk.

sort of demonstrates how short of actually stopping all border crossing, all flights, we cant "lock down" Europe. even today the advice is merely to avoid non-essential travel, everyone has a different veiw on essential in this age.
 




Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
My family actually need loo roll, having run out. Tried 3 places this evening, all sold out.

What a country of ****ing stupid, selfish morons. Oh well.

Try Newhaven or Seaford. We did our shopping on Friday evening and loo rolls available in Lidls & Morrison’s. I didn’t buy any because we have over half left from an 18 pack I bought 2 weeks ago.
 


Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
It’s not the oldies stripping the shelves.

It’s the selfish

Think we should shoot people buying more than one pack of toilet rolls?

No different to looting really

Looting and profiteering. Selling hand sanitisers on EBay.
 


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